Blood
by Lacewood
Summary: (AU) A Watcher returns to Tokyo in search of a new Slayer even as shadows from the past begin to gather. Kagome Higurashi's life is never going to be the same again...
1. One

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Inuyasha, the series, characters, concepts, etc. I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer either. Them's the property of the likes of Rumiko Takahashi and Joss Whedon. If I'm making money off this, I didn't notice. Suing would be counterproductive, if you ask me. Ask to archive, stealing not appreciated, etc. Thank you. 

**Warning**: There might be spoilers for Inuyasha up to er... volume 20+ at least, to sketch a really safe, wide margin? Largely based on manga canon, since I haven't seen much of the anime. And since this was conceptualised to happen after the events of the Buffy series finale, spoilers for what happened at the end (not much though, considering I haven't even _watched_ seasons 6/7 yet). And this is a really, really rough, un-betaed draft. Just to warn you. 

**For**: Eve because she has the unenviable task of editing this into decency one day. Anyway, it's all her fault. Really. 

**Blood**   
By: Rael 

Day had long since faded to night when the taxi finally pulled to a stop before its destination. Legs stiff and aching from the long journey, the old woman waited a moment before swinging the door open and slowly pulling herself out of the cab. Standing on the pavement, she looked up the shadowed steps leading to the shrine above.  
  
Watching Tokyo flash past the taxicab's tinted windows, all glass and concrete and unfamiliar streets, she'd realised - four years since her last visit, and even that had only been a two-week stay during the New Year. The Tokyo she remembered was that of her childhood, a city that didn't exist anymore.  
  
She really should have visited more, she admitted. True, her line of work was… troublesome and secretive and a fair number of her colleagues had inconvenient, uptight attitudes about their profession and encouraged the cutting of old ties once you joined the Council, but still. She could have come back more.  
  
Now, standing before the shrine she'd grown up in, she could almost believe that she was young again, that forty odd years had never passed. The shrine hadn't changed at all, she thought. But time was a weight; she could feel it in her bones.  
  
Not to mention, she had to climb those steps after a day spent cramped in taxicabs and economy class plane seats. Oh, she could feel her age, all right.  
  
The driver, young and cowed by his passenger's strange stare – right eye glaring, sharp and all seeing, through the rear view mirror, left eye blank and unmoving, dead – helpfully took her suitcases from the boot. Eyed the stairs to the shrine with horror, then sighed, and followed as she started climbing without a second glance.  
  
Finally reaching the top, she studied what she could see of the temple grounds. In the dark, memory filled in what her eyes could not see. Her lips thinned.  
  
In the dark, she remembered again why she hadn't come back.  
  
Not all memory is a blessing.  
  
A thump and a gasp as a heavy suitcase banged noisily into a step brought her back to the present. Her hand reached her pocket to close around the soft velvet bag in it. She didn't draw it out – risky enough for her, an unguarded old woman, to be carrying the shards with her; she did not need to draw them into the open to attract even more… attention.  
  
Some things had changed. Others had not. The circle rolls on but… things were changing. Everywhere. And she was not the hapless child she had been when she'd watched her sister die. Maybe it would be enough to make a difference.  
  
The cab driver heaved the suitcase up the last step, across the courtyard, in front of the door. She paid the fare, relented enough to add a generous tip, and finally rang the bell. Light gleamed under the door, and far away, she could hear the rumble of some television drama.  
  
Minutes passed. She rang again.  
  
"Coming! Coming!" A girl called. The thump of hurried feet and an argument: "Souta! You're sitting right here watching TV! Why didn't you open the door?!" "But Mom says I'm not allowed to open the door!" "That's only when you're home _alone_!"  
  
The door swung open. And she felt her breath catch in her throat.  
  
_Sister_.  
  
The girl blinked, not quite recognising her. "Ah…" Dark, wavy hair; wide, clear eyes; the smooth, _familiar_ lines of her features. God, Kikyou…  
  
"Great-aunt Kaede…?"  
  
"Sister!" She startled, and the moment's vision shattered as Tetsu came up behind her grand niece. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming today? We could have met you at the airport! Did you take a cab? Kagome! Help her bring her bags in."  
  
Then Tetsu's daughter-in-law came bustling in, and her grand nephew left his television to stare at the chaos of her arrival and be chivvied into a properly respectful greeting.  
  
Stepping into the bright light of the hall, she stared at her grand niece again. Kagome had been only… twelve when she'd last seen her. The difference four years could make…  
  
"You see it too." Tetsu said mildly from beside her.  
  
She spared him a wry look. He'd seen it, but not thought to tell her? "I thought I was seeing a ghost. But… she is also very… different."  
  
"I know. Sometimes I wonder if… What does your Council say about reincarnation?"  
  
"Nothing. Let it drop, Tetsu, we've been through this."  
  
A sigh. "I know. And I know why you came back."  
  
"… Things are different this time. There have been… complications. That's why they sent me back to Tokyo." She said.  
  
"You really think things will be different?" he asked quietly. The past hung between them, drowned their words in its silence.  
  
"I don't know."  
  
She could only hope that it was.  


**One: Awakening (I)**

  
Her watch, when she glanced at it, read 7.16. Stopping in the middle of the empty pavement, propping her bicycle against her hip, she stared up at the dusky morning sky, stained gold by the coming day. She really was too early, never mind that she'd walked instead of cycling. Kagome was probably still asleep…  
  
Well, it'd been either this or hang around the house until Father changed his mind and roped her back into training – at worst, she could always wait. Reaching the shrine, she dragged her bicycle up the steps (and some of the students at the dojo wondered why she was so strong. They could always try dragging a heavy, awkward bicycle up and down a flight of stairs every morning, she could have told them. She was fairly sure even Kagome could pack a good punch, if she ever put her mind to it).  
  
Leaving the bicycle at the gate, she crossed the courtyard – paused before the shrine. She passed it every morning without a second thought; now, she stopped before the wooden building, smiled wryly. Maybe she should pray, ask for something today. This was supposed to be a special day, after all.  
  
And what would she ask for? Good grades, good health, first place in the coming competitions? She smiled, chuckled to herself. A boyfriend?  
  
_"Sixteen and not even one boyfriend yet?" "San~go! Don't tease, Ayumi and the others and bad enough! And you don't have one either!" "Ah, but I don't have Houjo asking me to the movies and bringing me flowers every day. And I'm not sixteen yet…"_  
  
That had only been a month ago. Now that it was her turn, Kagome was not going to let her hear the last of it today, she thought ruefully. Turning from the shrine, she strolled past it, around the house to the back door. When she peered in, Kagome's mother was standing at the stove, just lifting the cover from a steaming pot of soup.  
  
"Good morning, Mrs Higurashi…?"  
  
Mrs Higurashi looked up at the opening of the door, and beamed at the girl, waving her in. "Sango! You're early today! I'm afraid Kagome isn't up yet, but she should be in a few minutes…" She turned to the small boy rubbing blearily at his eyes as he wandered into the kitchen. "Souta! Go wake your sister and tell her Sango's early today."  
  
"Ah! There's no need to wake her, Mrs Higurashi!" but Souta was already shuffling back out of the kitchen. "I'm sorry, I'm way too early today…"  
  
"Rubbish, Sango. You can join us for breakfast! Can you help me get some bowls for the soup? They're in that cupboard over there… Six, Father should be down soon enough..."  
  
The girl counted the numbers in her head and blinked. Six? She was just taking the bowls out of the cupboard, bent double, when -  
  
"WHAAAAAAT?! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME EARLIER?!" sailed down the stairs.  
  
Jumping, she hit her head on the door with a painful thump; winced, drew back and looked up even as footsteps thundered above and a door somewhere crashed. Mrs Higurashi looked up as well and tsked.  
  
"Oh my. I _told_ Souta to tell her you were early…"  
  
Sango sighed and chuckled. Nudging the cupboard door shut with a foot, she handed the bowls to the older woman, even as above, the continued racket of Kagome's whirlwind progress raged on.  
  
"Does this happen every morning?" An unfamiliar voice, rough with age, asked dryly from the kitchen door. "I see I needn't have worried about not bringing an alarm clock after all."  
  
"Ah! Aunt, you're up early…" Mrs Higurashi said. "And right after your long flight yesterday too…"  
  
The old woman standing in the door, white hair tied in a neat bun at the back of her neck, studied Sango, who blinked, startled, as she met the sharp gaze, saw the unmoving glass eye.  
  
"And this is…?"  
  
"Oh, this is Sango, Kagome's friend. They've known each other since middle school – Sango's father owns the dojo just down the road." Mrs Higurashi explained. "Sango, this is Kagome's Great Aunt Kaede – she just flew back from Hong Kong yesterday…"  
  
"Ah… Good morning, Aunt." Sango greeted, polite.  
  
She nodded back. "Good morning… Your father owns a dojo? My bother was telling me about it… He tells me your family comes from a very old line of demon hunters."  
  
"Oh…" Oh no, not _that_, Sango thought in a mixture of exasperation and resignation. She should have never let Father meet Kagome's grandfather – the two of them had far too much _fun_ swapping stories with each other. It wasn't like she'd ever seen a demon, never mind Father's stories about his youth and all that training he insisted on dragging her and Kohaku through. "Well, that's just what Father says…"  
  
"You don't believe it?" The old woman asked, eyebrows rising.  
  
Sango, in the midst of setting the bowls of rice Kagome's mother was handing her, turned and stared. The old woman met her eyes and smiled.  
  
"I take it you've never seen a demon before, then."  
  
"No, of course…"  
  
Never seen a demon before, with all the matter-of-factness of someone who saw demons everyday or at least, wouldn't be very impressed if a demon decided to pay the Higurashis a visit right now.  
  
"… not…" she trailed off, then stopped.  
  
Staring at Kagome's unsettling great aunt, she found herself wondering just how the old woman had lost her eye. It wasn't like that scar Father had on his arm – from when he'd rescued Mother from a rather rude kitsune, he'd say, grinning, while she laughed, so that Sango and Kohaku never really believed his story. This was… how do you lose an _eye_? Maybe she didn't want to know, she thought uneasily.  
  
Then, realising that she was staring, she ducked her head and returned to setting the last bowl on the table, turned away. She was being ridiculous. The false eye was strange, but that was no reason to start looking for shadows that weren't, she told herself firmly, there at all. After all, this was a shrine and Kagome's grandfather told them the weirdest ghost stories all the time.  
  
An apologetic "Sango! I'm _so_ sorry! I don't know _what_ happened to my alarm clock, are we going to be-" snapped her out her thoughts even as her friend shot into the kitchen.  
  
"Ah…"  
  
Kagome stopped. Blinked, even as her mother began calmly setting the table to the distant shrill of her alarm clock. Sango smiled, sheepish.  
  
"I'm early today…"  
  
  
  
  
_It had lived long in the shadows, so that shadows were all it remembered now, shadow and dim barred patches of light and the rushing of wastewater around it, dripping on its shell, where it could hardly feel the cold of the slime.  
  
It did not smell the stink of the filthy water it crawled in, not filth to it, no, only another part of its world, all it had ever known. Sometimes it flooded, here. Then, it would cling to the cracks in the concrete tunnels, hundred scittering legs clawing their way into the mildewed walls around it, while water rushed all around, until there was scarcely any air to breathe. But it could survive these brief floods, the water would drain away soon enough, and even if it got swept away, it was hard to kill. Very hard to kill.  
  
It ate rats, and cockroaches, and anything living it could find here, which was quite a lot, actually. Once, as a rare treat, after one of the floods, it had found a far bigger prize, a human, dead and drowned and waterlogged. Its flesh was tender, oh so tender, sweet and soft and it had gorged for a week afterwards, growing large and bloated and strong, stronger than ever. It had never found another such prize again, but it hoped.  
  
There was a place outside, it knew. Outside, where the light came from. It saw sometimes, movement outside those opening – more humans, it thought greedily, but there was too much light, and light was bad, it remembered. Too many humans were bad, it thought dimly, from instinct. There were a lot of them out there, that it could see. That would make them strong, wouldn't it?  
  
If it were stronger, it could go out, it dimly began to think, but it was hard to see how it was going to become stronger. It needed… more food, maybe. There were others like itself; if there were more of them, it would be stronger than the humans, it thought. But there so few of them, it met them so rarely, and often, those were fights, wars, battles over good hunting grounds and dry places. There was only one other like it that it truly knew, its twin, sibling, that it had known all its life. They hunted together, moved together, twined into each other until it did not know where one began and the other ended. Its twin hungered too; they hungered together.  
  
But they did not know what they hungered, did not know how to seek it.  
  
But now… it could taste… something. There was light, bright, strong, very strong, and it was calling, calling. If it could have that light, it would become stronger, it thought. It could taste its power, even down here in the dark, the wet, taste it, sweet and terrible. It needed it, it wanted it, if it had it, if it could have this light, it need never be afraid of the light again, for they would have the light most terrible of all.  
  
It hungered. It sought. It found. And now, it began to move._  
  
  
  
  
"Souta! Why didn't you tell me Sango was early?!" Kagome demanded, stalking back into the kitchen for the second time after going up to switch her alarm clock off. The seven-year-old looked up from his rice.  
  
"I tried! But you ran off so fast, I never got to say a thing!" He said in protest.  
  
She huffed and settled into her chair. "Oh, fine…" Saw the apologetic look Sango gave her from across the table and smiled. "Since it's your birthday, I'll let you off. Why so early anyway? Don't you have training?"  
  
"Father let me off training this morning, since it's my birthday."  
  
Kagome gave her a horrified look. "This isn't supposed to be your _birthday present_, is it?"  
  
Sango choked on a mouthful of grilled eel. "Of course not! He's not that bad!" She said, gulping down a large mouthful of soup and taking a deep breath, before adding, "that's why I'm so early – Mother told me to get out quickly before he changed his mind and dragged me back in."  
  
Kagome bit back a yawn and chuckled. "Getting ready for the competitions again…?"  
  
"What else? And the rumours say that some of the other schools have really strong teams this year… He's worried."  
  
"Did he let you off practice this afternoon too?"  
  
"No, that's different…"  
  
"Okay, I'll give you your present after practice, then you won't have to carry it around school all day."  
  
"What is it anyway?"  
  
"That's a seeecret."  
  
"Oh, come on, Kagome, it's my birthday already, isn't it?"  
  
"No, you have to wait until you see it!"  
  
Sango was still trying to pry an answer out of a giggling Kagome when they finished breakfast, dumping their dishes in the sink with a clatter. There was still plenty of time for them to walk to school – the journey didn't take more than ten minutes from the shrine. Kagome's grandfather looked up as Sango reached for her backpack.  
  
"Kaede, didn't you say you'd gotten a job at Mamshiba High? That's Kagome's school. Do you need her to show you around?"  
  
"Ah?" Still in the midst of picking up her bag, Kagome stopped, mid motion, to turn and stare. "Aunt Kaede, you got a job at my school?"  
  
The older woman nodded. "At the school library. They seem short handed," she added, eyebrows rising, voice dry. "The lady I spoke to didn't even ask for my qualifications, she was so stunned that someone was applying for the position."  
  
Sango opened her mouth, clamped it shut, as horror stories of what had happened to the previous librarian came to mind… They were probably exaggerated anyway, she told herself – and Kagome's great aunt seemed more than equal to anything the school's boys could come up with.  
  
Her friend was probably thinking the same thing. "Is that a good idea…?" She said weakly.  
  
"Why, is something wrong?" Kagome's grandfather asked.  
  
"Er, no, not exactly… it's just that some of the boys in school can be pretty… er, unruly… and er…" The last librarian _had_ quit from a nervous breakdown…  
  
The old woman seemed to understand what Kagome was… trying to say. She looked amused. "Really? Thank you for the warning, then. The two of you can go first. I only start next week, and I still need to finish unpacking."  
  
"Oh... okay… We better make a move then, or we'll be late!"  
  
They weren't, and made it to class with ten minutes to spare, time largely spent on Ayumi begging Kagome's Chemistry assignment off her so that she could check the answers, while Kagome groaned about yesterday's Maths. Sango, who was a steady, just-above-average student without Kagome's top student reputation to uphold, and as such, worried much less about grades, listened with one ear, nudging the other girl into silence as the teacher walked in.  
  
The rest of the morning slid slowly, slowly past, monotonous and familiar. Classes, lunch, more classes, the ringing of the bell, aikido club training. Kagome still wouldn't tell Sango what her present was, only "just be glad I didn't make you carry it around all day. I'll give it to you after practice, then the club can see it too!"  
  
That didn't bode too well, did it? Sango gave up and headed for the gym, where the club practiced on Wednesdays. She hadn't even meant to join the team, she remembered, but once word got around that her father was coach, Takeda (and the whole damned club!) had been so insistent – there was no escaping it.  
  
It wasn't until practice was over that she realised that the team had an audience today – an audience of one. Wiping the sweat out of her eyes, she blinked, curious, at the figure standing silhouetted in the door, stout and straight-backed – froze.  
  
Kagome's great aunt stared back at her. Had she been staring at Sango all practice? The girl wondered, uneasy. She could just turn around, walk away, follow the others into the locker room. Maybe she was just passing by; it didn't mean anything, didn't mean that she wanted to talk to her, specifically…  
  
Her bare feet squeaked against the gym's polished wooden floors, her hands instinctively rising to straighten her hair, coming loose from the ponytail she'd pulled it into, her gi, rumpled and sweaty – a perfunctory brush and she made them fall again to hang loosely at her sides.  
  
"… Ah… Aunt? Did you need anything…?" She asked, awkward. There was no escaping it, in the end.  
  
The old woman met her wary, curious eyes; nodded. "I believe we need to talk."  
  
  
  
  
Kagome skipped up the steps, past Sango's bicycle, left behind when they decided to walk from the shrine this morning. The mid-May weather was fine and hot, the sky azure and almost cloudless. Humming to herself, she only paused as she passed the shrine, where her grandfather was holding forth before a pair of middle aged women as he gestured dramatically at the enormous tree in the courtyard.  
  
"… the Goshinboku has been standing since long before the shrine was built in the Tokugawa era. It's survived wars, fires, four attempts to destroy it and legend says that an evil Buddhist monk who tried to steal its wood was struck down even before he could touch the tree. These lovely charms you see here are hand carved from the wood of that same tree. Guaranteed to provide protection from all evils and harm, such as…"  
  
Kagome turned her gaze to the sky above and sighed. Strange how no one ever asked how, if the tree struck down evil monks trying to steal its wood, her grandfather got hold of enough wood to make so many charms. She only hoped he remembered to remove the "Made in China" labels this time – some visitors had kicked up quite a fuss over the last batch.  
  
You could also buy Shikon no Tama key chains (glass), mummified kappa claws (plastic, Kagome suspected. If she was wrong, then she didn't want to know what those were _really_ made of), scrolls of auspicious sayings (factory printed)… And Grandfather wondered why she didn't believe a word of the stories he told them all the time.  
  
"Mom! I'm home!" She called, dropping her bag on the floor with a thump. Then she remembered, Souta had to visit a dentist today – one of his teeth were coming loose.  
  
"… Aunt Kaede?" No reply. Maybe she was still in school, talking to the people in the general office.  
  
Stretching lazily, Kagome glanced at the clock – more than an hour to go before Sango finished practice. Just enough time for a short nap - she hadn't slept very well last night, she remembered with a grimace. All those funny dreams about… she could even remember what she'd been dreaming about! Grocery shopping? But what was so scary about grocery shopping?  
  
She climbed the stairs to her room, dropped her bag on her desk, before flopping on her bed to stare at the ceiling – it was days like this she was glad she hadn't let Houjo talk her into joining the Student Council, she thought, sinking into the softness of her pillows. He'd been scarily keen about it but schoolwork took up enough of her time… as it…  
  
_… what kind of shopping list asks for blood of demon anyway…?_  
  
Kagome woke with a start; was sitting up before she even remembered where she was. Fumbling for her alarm clock, she rubbed at her eyes, yawned – she'd been asleep for over an hour already? She'd better hurry – Sango would probably be waiting for her now.  
  
She swung out of bed, smoothed her rumpled school uniform, reached for Sango's present – and then it struck her. What woke her? Around her, the house was quiet. Too quiet; still, frozen, as if the air itself was holding its breath, knife pressed to its throat cold and – She blinked, rubbed her eyes again. Where had _that_ thought come from?  
  
Forgetting Sango's present, she ran from her room, down the stairs, through the front door. Where was grandfather? He wasn't still talking to visitors, was he? The doors to the now-deserted shrine were open; she skid to a stop, fingers reaching to grip the doorframe.  
  
What had she been expecting? Where was everyone? Why was something in her screaming that something was wrong, wrong, _wrong_?  
  
Well, the shrine was quite definitely empty, and everything looked perfectly fine. The girl let herself heave a small sigh of relief – those strange dreams must be getting to her. Even Grandfather's ghost stories had never spooked her this badly! She made herself let go of the door, turned to go back to the house –  
  
- behind her, a hiss, a flicker of movement in the shadows that hadn't been there minutes ago, she'd _looked_ -  
  
Kagome turned, startled, and froze.  
  
It spilled from the shadows, a confusion of scrabbling legs, long, gleaming body, red-brown and _huge_ so that all she could do was stare and think, this was a nightmare, she hadn't woken up yet, things like this… giant centipede… could not exist and it opened its jaws, long feelers reaching for her, across the space and she leapt back with a shriek.  
  
The sound of her own scream seemed to snap her from her daze – she scrambled to get away even as the monster drew itself over the counter in the shrine selling charms, knocking it over so that small glass balls shattered on the floor beneath its length, its careless, always moving feet.  
  
"_Give it to me_." It hissed at her with something that wasn't quite voice, wind rustling through a hollow throat that made sense only in her head.  
  
"Give what?" She yelled, stumbling down the steps, out of the shrine. She didn't know, didn't want to know, only wanted to get away, wanted to wake up.  
  
"_Give it to me_." It lunged, and she threw herself to the side. Oh God, maybe she should have listened to Grandfather's stories more carefully, what were you supposed to do when you woke up and found a demon in your house? Run and scream and get rescued by a passing warrior monk or beautiful miko, or… but there weren't any of those wandering around modern day Tokyo!  
  
If she could just get to the street, to the road, maybe she could get help. There'd be people there, and cars – maybe a car could run it over. She sprinted past the shrine, past the old well house, she just had to get across the courtyard and down the stairs and –  
  
A scream, shriller, louder than any human voice, made her wince, clap her hands over her ears; an angry chittering made her turn, just as the demon's tail crashed into her, threw her through the wooden doors of the well house…  
  
When she opened her eyes again, it was to darkness. God, she _hurt_. Her head, her arm, her shoulder, her leg, down to her bones, pain; her hand rose to wipe something from her eye and felt something warm, wet, sticky, and it stung where her fingers had barely brushed the skin. Blood?  
  
Pushing herself off the floor, she tried to think through the pain. Monster… in shrine… she'd been running and then it'd hit her until she'd hit the well house – she must have gone right through the door and fainted, no wonder she hurt, where was it now, she had to get out – She reached for the wall to steady herself and got a second shock. It was rough – earth and stone, the well house was made of wood, where was she?  
  
Forcing her eyes open, she looked around, frantic. Walls closed in on every side, as she stared, half-crouched against the wall. Dim, pale light fell from above – she looked up, saw broken wood and sunlight. She was in the _well_? She must have hit the cover boarding it up and fallen through the old, rotten wood; Grandfather had been saying something about changing the cover, hadn't he? He'd also warned her and Souta from ever going in – it wasn't safe, he'd say, but if the well house had a story, he never told them.  
  
So… so now she had to climb out of the well, get out of the well house, then run for help. And where was the demon? She stood slowly, tried not to think about how much she hurt and that she was bleeding – it was easier than she thought; already her head was clearing. Stood and turned, looking for the ladder, there had to be one right – her foot caught on something and she felt back again on something –  
  
Soft. Or not soft, exactly, but definitely not hard earth floor. Kagome turned to stare over her shoulder – and nearly screamed again as she leapt to her feet.  
  
_Oh God there's a DEAD BODY in the well no WONDER Grandfather didn't want us in here what the…_  
  
A pale-haired figure was sprawled against the wall, pinned to it by an arrow through the left shoulder. Long, tangled hair covered the – boy, girl's face? The hair was too long for a boy's, surely… but the hand wrapped around the arrow, this close to pulling it out – was large, bony, a man's hand.  
  
A shriek from above reminded her that dead bodies in the well were the least of her problems – the demon had found her. She looked up and saw the tiny, dark head hovering over the broken hole, jaws opening and closing as it looked down at her.  
  
"_Give me the light. Give me the light. Give it to…_"  
  
"I don't even know what you want! I don't have it!" She yelled back. She was getting angry now – what right did this monster have to barge into her home and hurt her and then demand things?  
  
It lunged at her through the hole, poisonous jaws coming much too close. She jumped back again even as bits of splintered wood rained down around her. Oh. Right. All the right that the ability to kill her quite easily, quite soon, gave it, which was probably a lot. She needed a weapon… there were broken bits of wood all around her, a lot of it sharp – she looked around, picked up the biggest, sharpest-looking piece she could find by the dim light. Maybe if she was lucky, she could keep it off long enough climb out…  
  
A laugh interrupted her frantic thoughts, mocking, sneering, oh-so-amused. "_What the hell do you think you're doing, bitch_?" A voice asked, a voice that rang in her head the way the centipede monster's did, but… different - clearer, bell-like.  
  
Kagome started, glanced around her, at the body – and froze. The eyes, what she could see of them under the tangled hair, still seemed shut but… she could have sworn she saw the fingers wrapped around the arrow move.  
  
"_What's with that look? You look like a twit_." The scornful voice said. "_And what are you doing with that demon? Kill it already. Or do you want it to kill you_?"  
  
Her already frayed nerves snapped. "Easy for you to say… whoever you are!" She snapped, glaring around her. "What do you expect me to do? Kill it? I don't know how! I don't even have anything to attack it with!"  
  
"_Feh. Fine. Got a weapon sitting right in front of you and you don't even see it? You put it there yourself, remember, Kikyou? You want to live, you want to die here, it's up to you. See if I care_."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about! And I'm not – KYAAAA!" She hit the ground with a thump. The demon was climbing into the well, ripping the wooden cover to shreds even as it filled the opening, blocking the light. Thrown into darkness, Kagome could barely see the wriggling, never ending legs as they clung to the wall, getting closer and closer, and even if she couldn't, she could hear its chittering voice.  
  
"_Give it to me give it to me give it to me…_"  
  
_You want to live, you want to die, it's up to you_. What kind of stupid… Of course she wanted to live! She couldn't die here, she wouldn't, if it killed her then who would warn Mom and Souta and Grandfather, they would come home and it would hurt them TOO, she couldn't let that happen, she had to live…  
  
Light caught the edge of her vision then, a pale glow. She turned and blinked. The arrow pinning the boy to the well was glowing, the light weak but clear in the darkness of the well shaft.  
  
A weapon. She didn't have time to stop to wonder if it would break in her hand, if it would be any better than splintered, rotten wood, think about the way it pinned the boy against the wall behind him, wonder if he was alive or dead.  
  
Reaching over, she yanked at it, hard. It gave, stuck; she yanked harder (didn't think about when the fingers wrapped around it had fallen away, didn't stop to think the shoulder she was leaning on didn't feel cold or stiff enough to be dead) and it came, smoothly, whole and unbroken even as the demon shrieked in her ear –  
  
Arrow in hand, she spun and stabbed at the awful head with its gaping, deadly jaws – felt it strike and stick – it reared back and now the arrow had barely slid between its armoured plates – the faint light tracing the long slim shaft glowed, sparked at its head -  
  
Light filled her, white and blinding and so brilliant it hurt. Far away, she could hear a furious, dying shriek, but there was only the light, only the light. And then it shattered.  


_end_


	2. Two

**Blood**   
By: Rael 

**Two: Awakening (II)**

By late afternoon, the school was largely quiet and empty, except for the few students with club meetings or work to see to. Standing outside the gym, Sango could hear the distant hum of traffic. She'd changed out of her gi back into her school uniform, but kept her hair tied back in the heat of the day. Staring at the ground while she tried to think of something polite to say, someone called her name.  
  
"Sango!" She looked up to find Eri waving goodbye; waved back.  
  
Everything looked so normal.  
  
Turning to Kagome's great aunt, she sighed. "I don't suppose you've ever met my father."  
  
The old woman's eyebrows rose. "No. Should I have?"  
  
"You sound like him." Sango said, just the faintest hint of gloomy resignation in her words.  
  
"Maybe I do. Your family seems to have remembered much of the old ways. It's unusual but not completely surprising."  
  
"So… you say that there's a… Council of Watchers… people like you… looking for girls who can fight… vampires? But… why? And what makes you think I'm a… Slayer? I don't have any special powers, I just train a lot!"  
  
Kaede shook her head. "I watched you during your training just now. I don't doubt that your training in martial arts was responsible, but even you must realise that you are very strong? And given your family background and history, it is… very likely."  
  
"But… I don't even believe in demons…!" Sango protested weakly. "And… vampires? You mean… like in the foreign movies? Why would they be here, in Tokyo?"  
  
Kaede snorted at that. "Not quite like in the foreign movies, but close. Japan has been open to foreign trade and religion for centuries now. I imagine the vampires got in… somehow, though our problem with them is perhaps not as serious as most countries. There are vampires all over the world these days, not just America and Europe, the same way you can find tengu living in the London Underground. And they know… how to hide themselves." The steady, dark eyes met Sango's own and held them. "People might not like to believe it, but just because you can't see the problem doesn't mean it isn't there."  
  
"But… but you're still not sure, right?"  
  
A pause. "That was why I wanted to talk to you. There are… ways for me to find out. Tests. Would you at least let me test you for the power…?  
  
And… what if she was right? What if Sango really was this… Slayer… she was looking for? Sango hesitated, looked away –  
  
And stopped, head snapping round towards the school gates barely visible around the corner of the school building. "What the –" She began, and stopped, frowning. She could feel… something. Nudging at the edges of her senses, a shadow in her vision when she narrowed her eyes to almost closing, a whispering she didn't quite hear.  
  
"There's.. something… What is this?" She demanded, turning to Kaede, who returned her frown.  
  
"You sense something?" She asked. "From where?"  
  
Sango paused, blinking, but hesitantly, head turning, brow furrowed as if she sniffed the air itself. "There…" She pointed towards the gates. "Not too far… it could be near the shrine…" She said.  
  
The old woman's eyes widened, then turned hard as she took a step. "It's a demon. It could be attacking the shrine." She said, biting the words. "Run, quickly, you can get there faster than I can and I don't think my brother can fight an attack off."  
  
Sango's heart went cold. Kagome. Souta. Mrs Higurashi. Grandfather.  
  
"Run!" She ran.  
  
  
  
  
She stumbled back and fell, dazed and blinded, eyes squeezed tight shut against a light that wasn't there anymore. Failed to hit hard earth floor again, but she was too shaken to think or care that she might be sitting on a dead body. Slowly, gingerly, half-wincing as if she expected to be blinded again, she made herself open her eyes.  
  
Darkness. Walls of rough, packed earth and hewn stone. She was still in the well and she was still alive; miracles of miracles, what _was_ that light? Kagome felt much too shaky to stand up and try to climb out.  
  
She just needed a moment to get her breath back, and then she could get out and look for Grandfather and maybe get a bandage – she still hurt all over, but in the distant way of someone who knows they should hurt but can't quite feel it. Yes, just a moment and –  
  
And then whatever it was she was sitting on moved – she squeaked - and a rough hand shoved her off. "Get off me, bitch, what do you think I am, some kind of fucking chair?" An almost-familiar voice snarled.  
  
Almost familiar, because it'd been swearing at her just five minutes ago. She whirled around, as much as she could without keeling over – and gaped.  
  
The dead body wasn't so dead after all.  
  
"You're… you're alive…"  
  
Amber eyes glared down at her. "Yeah, too bad isn't it, Kikyou?" He spat the name like poison. "You certainly tried hard enough to kill me, what with shooting me and pushing me into the damn well and all."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about! I'm not Kikyou!"  
  
"What, do you think I'm stupid? I'd know you anywhere. Don't play the innocent with me, Kikyou, you're not stupid and it's not your style."  
  
"I keep telling you, I don't know who this Kikyou is!" Kagome shouted back, pulling herself to her feet and ignoring the wave of dizziness that tried to knock her over again. Bad enough being attacked by demons and almost getting killed; she didn't need to let this jerk stand over her and call her names. "My name is Kagome. Ka. Go. Me. And I've never seen you in my life! I didn't even know you were down here!"  
  
Her anger cut him short – but he clearly wasn't letting it go, or even halfway convinced. "Feh. Just give me the damn shards, bitch. Then maybe I'll leave you alone." He said, reaching to grab her arm. She drew back as she saw his hand. It was large, strong – and ended in, not soft fingers and nails, but in claws, bony, with nails tapering into sharp, deadly, points.  
  
"I don't know what you mean. I don't have any shards! And even if I did I wouldn't give them to you!" False bravado, even she had to admit. If she thought giving him the shards would make him go away and never come back, she'd give them in a heartbeat. "If that's the way you talk to people, I don't wonder Kikyou shot you and threw you in the well." She snapped before it could strike her that insulting threatening, dangerous strangers was a bad idea.  
  
A voice at the back of her head was stirring. She'd heard this name before, hadn't she? Somewhere… A shriek snapped her from her thoughts to look up -  
  
Oh god, not another one! And she didn't have any arrows left, and anyway, she didn't even know what had happened with the other one, and oh god, this one was angry.  
  
"_Sistersistersistersister kill destroy break eat they took you away sister will kill them for you break them destroy them…_" The wild keening of grief and pain and rage and vengeance made her flinch. There was a hiss and something hit the wall beside her while Kagome jumped back with a yelp and stared in horror at the glob of spit and poison proceeded to eat its way through stone.  
  
"Feh. Stupid thing." She heard the boy mutter. Then she felt strong fingers wrap around her arm, so tight it hurt and she was airborne – she barely had time to register this or try to fight it, when she felt herself dropped to the ground, sprawling on her hands and knees. Light spilled from the broken doors into the well house – in shambles now, she could see.  
  
The demon had drawn back from the well, rearing back so that it towered over them, jaws opening and closing. It spat again; the boy sidestepped it neatly while Kagome watched his easy, almost contemptuous movements, watched the poison eat a hole through the wooden floor, noted, with disbelief, that he had fur-covered, dog-like ears the colour of his hair.  
  
He took a step, flexing his fingers as if to shake the stiffness of his death-like sleep from them one last time. The demon lunged for him as his right arm drew back.  
  
"Sankon Tetsusou!" A flash and the silence of a scream never screamed as claws tore the demon's throat out, ripped it to pieces, blood (thick and black) raining all over the floor. Kagome felt something wet splatter on her cheek, burning the skin like acid; wincing, she scrubbed it hastily away with the sleeve of her uniform.  
  
"Feh. Like I'm going to let some lousy demon get hold of the shards. You!" She looked up and he'd turned his attention back to her, striding over the demon's remains like they weren't there. "Don't tell me you don't know where the fucking shards are. I can smell power on you – give them to me."  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you I don't know what you're talking about?" She asked, scrambling to her feet and glaring. "And if you try anything, I'll call the police!"  
  
"Kagome!"  
  
Her head turned, relieved, at the distant shout, at the familiar sound of Sango's voice, even as he snorted and grabbed her again, claws digging into her arm with deliberate viciousness while he loomed over her. "You can try, bitch."  
  
"Let go of her!" "Let me go!"  
  
"Not until you give me the –"  
  
"Kagome! Get down!" They turned at the sound of her grandfather's shout, the boy's grip loosening ever so slightly – Kagome wrenched herself from his grasp and ducked, even as her grandfather threw something and shouted a word she didn't know.  
  
The ofuda flew true to strike the boy's raised arm, plastering itself with a crackle of power. He flinched. "What the…?"  
  
Nothing happened. Amber eyes glared at the ofuda, tried to rip it off – it stuck. Sticking, in fact, seemed to be _all_ it was doing. "What the hell is this, old man? He demanded, taking a threatening step towards Kagome's startled grandfather.  
  
"It didn't work? But it has to; those were the strongest wards we had in the house… I must be too far away… Kagome! Seal him!" He called, waving at her.  
  
She stared at her grandfather in disbelief. "What?! I don't know how!"  
  
"Just say a sealing word and focus on the ofuda! It'll do its work and seal him then!"  
  
If her grandfather hadn't managed to make it work, how could she? The boy glared at her over his shoulder and snorted; continued stalking across the yard towards her grandfather with a low, growing growl of irritation.  
  
"What sealing word?!"  
  
"Anything should work!"  
  
"Look here, old man, I don't know what the fuck this stupid thing is supposed to do but you'd better get it –" Sango was moving to stop him, a grim look on her face, even as the boy flexed his fingers again. Kagome froze, watching. Watching the same, still-bloody claws he'd used to tear a demon to pieces just minutes ago…  
  
"Get away from them!" She yelled, fists clenching furiously. "Sit!"  
  
He hit the ground face first with an impressive howl and thump.  
  
The two girls stared. Her grandfather beamed as if he'd planned everything all along. "Well done, Kagome! Admittedly, I'd been planning to use the ofuda on the centipede demon – I'm afraid it caught me at an unguarded moment and knocked me out for a while – but quite impressive for your first try!"  
  
"Tetsu! Sango! The demon…" Kaede appeared at the shrine gates and stopped, stunned. The well house, ruined. Kagome, covered in dirt and blood. Sango, still staring at the white haired boy currently plastered, unmoving, to the ground at her brother's feet…  
  
"Inuyasha?! What in the world happened here? Tetsu! Sango! Kagome, what happened, are you hurt?" She demanded, stalking towards her grand niece.  
  
Kagome blinked. "I… I'm fine…" She said weakly. No she wasn't, her head said as it began to throb with a vengeance. And she felt tired… so tired… At least everyone was safe…  
  
Voices, calling, so far away... "Kagome!"  
  
She fainted.  
  
  
  
  
Kaede picked her way through the well house to stand at the well. Staring down the shaft, she frowned and took stock of the damage. The door was ruined, as was the cover sealing the well. The floorboards were pitted and scarred from the demon's blood and its remains scattered the floor. She grimaced.  
  
"Almost feels like the old days again." Her brother said as he joined her in studying the carnage.  
  
"You make that sound like a good thing. Kagome?"  
  
"Her mother's taking care of her and cleaning those wounds; Sango and Souta are helping. Nothing very serious, thank god - she should heal quickly."  
  
"That's good."  
  
"It is… luckily, she didn't break anything – remember that time you gave us a scare falling into the well and broke your wrist?"  
  
"I remember. And you're sure the seal was fine before this…?" She asked, sparing a glance for the boy outside.  
  
"Yes, yes… I checked it regularly… should have replaced that cover too, but I thought it could wait and… I guess it's too late now."  
  
"And yet Kagome or the demon managed to break the seal." She eyed her brother with narrowed eyes. "Has this ever happened before?"  
  
He sighed and frowned. "Kagome's never had an interest in the shrine. She's never taken the things I tell them seriously either," he said mournfully. "Certainly I thought there might be potential; she does come from a long line of shrine guardians, after all, but since she's never actually tried, nothing like this ever happened that I recall…"  
  
"I'm not surprised." Kaede muttered.  
  
Tetsu gave her a wounded look, and eyed the well. "I thought that… Onigumo, right? said this sort of thing didn't run in families."  
  
"It didn't. But… well. There's never been more than one Slayer before either, but now, we have every Potential in the world becoming a Slayer. The Council has its hands full trying to track all of them down and train them… The Potential might have always run in families, but never been obvious. We don't know."  
  
Oh yes. There was too much they didn't know. None of it helped by the… disappearance… of the Watcher who'd reported finding a Potential in Tokyo at all. She'd been through the few reports he'd filed, and what anyone else had been able to find, but the fact had remained that no one had any idea where Ichimanjou was or who the Potential had been. Had. And then she'd come back at their request and now, it seemed, found the Slayer living in her own shrine.  
  
Assuming Kagome really was the Slayer…  
  
"You thought it was Sango, didn't you? Well. She does seem like a more likely candidate, but going by how well Kagome's first attempt at sealing a demon went, I'm sure she'll do fine."  
  
"If only it were that simple." Kaede huffed and changed the subject. "You're going to need to get new doors and a cover for the well, and sand the floor down… And do you have any rope in the house? I don't think the seal on him –" She nodded at the white haired figure sprawled outside. "- is going to last very long. … And a broom and a dustpan." She added, eyeing the mess.  
  
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather use a fire charm? I've got some of those lying around…"  
  
"You are not setting fire to the well house on top of everything else, little brother."  
  
"Come, Kaede, would I do that? Oh fine. We should have some rope somewhere… and I'll get the dustpan. And Kasumi wonders why I bother to keep those long handled dustpans when she never uses them… I always thought they'd come in useful one day…"  
  
"What the fuck are these things?! Dammit! If it's that damn bitch I'm going to fucking kill her!"  
  
By the time enthusiastic, muffled swearing told them that the boy was awake and the seal wearing off, they had disposed of most of the mess, sweeping and dumping the bits of broken wood and demon carcass into the well. Propping the dustpan and broom against one of the largely undamaged walls, they left the well house to find him struggling wildly against the rope they'd tied him firmly with, even wrapping the bright orange nylon around the clawed fingers to make sure he couldn't try to rip his way through them.  
  
He glared as Kaede came to a stop before him, just far enough so he could look at her without breaking his neck, but not so near he could glower comfortably. "Inuyasha."  
  
"Who the hell are you? Dammit, bitch, untie me!"  
  
Kaede gave him a thoughtful look. "You don't recognise me, do you?"  
  
"I've never seen you in my life, old woman." He said, but now there was wariness in the eyes. "What the hell happened here? The whole place… smells different. Where's Kikyou?"  
  
"She's dead." Tetsu said quietly from behind her. "It's been fifty years since she sealed you in the well and died."  
  
The angry eyes widened. "Kikyou's… dead?"  
  
"You remember how badly hurt she was when she shot you."  
  
"You… how do you know all this anyway?" Then he stopped. "Hey… wait. You're those two brats… Kikyou's brother and sister…?"  
  
"Kaede. Tetsu. We have names, you know. And it looks like you're the brat now. Fifty years is a long time, boy." Kaede pointed out.  
  
"Feh. Then who was that bitch who woke me up? She looked just like Kikyou!"  
  
"That was Kagome. My _granddaughter_." Tetsu said, giving him a look that was all disapproval. The half-demon scowled.  
  
"Not like I give a damn. Now untie me!"  
  
"And leave you free to try and steal the shards like you did the last time? Or run around Tokyo wrecking havoc?"  
  
"Fuck you."  
  
"Maybe we should just leave him here and hope it rains for the rest of the week." Kaede said to no one in particular.  
  
Her brother frowned at her. "He'll scare the visitors away. We'll need to move him where he can't be seen or heard… and spell those ropes so he can't claw out of them…"  
  
The demon in question swore at them. Kaede looked at him, eyebrows raised. "If you keep that up, we will leave you tied up, boy. Now will you listen?" He subsided, sulky. She went on. "I want you to promise not to steal the shards…." He made a noise of enraged protest. "… for now, at least. And you're not to hurt Kagome, or touch anyone else here to force her to give them to you either."  
  
"What kind of fucking bastard do you take me for? I wouldn't do that." He snapped.  
  
"That's good to know. Now, do you promise?" She said.  
  
He glared at her. "And you think I'll keep my word?"  
  
She met his suspicious eyes. "I've never known you to break your word, and I won't break mine. Well?"  
  
Reluctant silence. "Feh. Fine. I won't touch the fucking shards. But only for now, you hear me? Now untie me already, bitch!"  
  
She considered leaving him tied, just a few minutes longer, until he learned to stop swearing every other word - but that would probably involve leaving him tied up for the rest of his life, and she _had_ promised.  
  
"Very well. Now hold still. Tetsu, you can take his feet. Maybe you'll like to tell us what happened when the seal broke."  
  
  
  
  
_… light fell through the window, shining through a crystal goblet filled with crimson too dark and thick to be wine, shining on a man with a smile like silk and poison…_  
  
  
  
  
Kagome woke in her own room, in her oldest, faded pink pyjamas, with the evening sun shining through the window. Sango was sitting on the floor by her bed with her chin propped on her knees as she stared into the distance. She started as Kagome sat up to wince and rub at the bandage on her cheek.  
  
Not a dream after all.  
  
Sango told her what Aunt Kaede had told her, half-hesitant, half-resigned. Not a dream - even Kagome's dreams were never this strange. She said so and Sango chuckled weakly.  
  
"Where is everyone? Are they all right? What happened to that boy…? Is that weird seal still working?" She swung herself out of bed.  
  
Sango shook her head. "The seal wore off, but he seems… I think he's in the living room, your Aunt said he wouldn't make any more trouble…" She didn't sound convinced at this; Kagome wasn't either. "Your mother's cooking dinner, so I said I'd wait for you to wake up."  
  
"But what time is it? Dinner? Don't you have to be home? Oh, Sango, I'm so sorry… and it's your birthday too…" Picking up her alarm clock, Kagome grimaced at the time.  
  
"It's okay. I called home already – Dad wanted to come over to see the mess, even, but he has a class to teach tonight… he said he'd come over tomorrow morning. It's all right so long as I get home before dinner, and that's just a ten-minute walk. Do you want to go down? Your aunt didn't want to talk about what happened until you woke up."  
  
Kagome sighed. "Does she really think I'm… some vampire hunter? I mean… you'd make a much better… Slayer? than I would! And… it's even worse than those stories Grandfather tells!"  
  
"But… there was that demon. I mean… your Grandfather and Aunt cleared up the well house but it's still a mess. And that boy. Where'd he come from? What did he want?"  
  
Kagome flopped back on her bed to frown at the ceiling. "I don't know… they were asking for the same thing." She suddenly remembered, blood running cold. "Some… shards, or something. I don't even know what that is! That boy… I found him in the well, and I thought he was dead or something when I woke up. I mean… I never knew there was someone in there, and how'd he get in? Why didn't Grandfather tell us? He tells us everything _else_." She said, sour.  
  
It just figured her grandfather would tell them wild stories about everything except the one thing that was _really there_. Though then again, if he'd told her there was a boy in the well before all this had happened, would she have believed him? Probably not…  
  
"Oh god, maybe this means those other stories he told us were true too…" She said, horrified at the thought. Sango looked like the same thought had struck her quite a while ago.  
  
Souta peered into the room and perked up to see Kagome awake. "Sis! You're up! Are you okay? You were sleeping for an hour!"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Did you really kill a demon? Grandfather wouldn't let me in the well house, but that boy said you did! It must have been scary…"  
  
Kagome blinked. Things so weird weren't supposed to feel this normal, she thought. "I guess I'd better go down…" She said and swung out of bed, standing before it struck her that – for someone who'd been thrown through a door and fallen down a well and been attacked by a demon with toxic spit, she felt… fine. She'd seen how long it took Sango to heal from some of her more serious training injuries.  
  
Too weird, too weird, too weird, her mind chanted at her.  
  
In the living room, Aunt Kaede and Grandfather were sitting on the couch, heads bent over something on the coffee table while they talked. They looked up as Kagome came in.  
  
"Ah! Kagome! You're up… how are you feeling?" Grandfather asked.  
  
Kagome sank into an armchair and eyed him. "Fine." She said with a huff. "Considering I nearly DIED."  
  
There was a snort from the window behind her. "Only because you were being stupid." The voice behind her said callously.  
  
Startled. Kagome turned to stare at the white-haired boy leaning against the wall by the window while he glowered at whatever it was her grandfather and aunt had been looking at.  
  
"You! What are you doing here?"  
  
He transferred his glare from coffee table to her. "What does it look like I'm doing?"  
  
Well… Standing there doing… nothing. But he'd been threatening her and her grandfather just an hour ago, and now he was just standing there like nothing had happened?  
  
"Kagome, this is Inuyasha." Aunt Kaede said from behind her. When Kagome looked at her, surprised, she gave the boy a warning look and continued. "He's a… half demon. You found him in the well because he was sealed there 50 years ago by your great aunt. Kikyou…"  
  
Kikyou… She'd thought that name sounded familiar… but…  
  
"Our eldest sister. She died not long after sealing Inuyasha – did your grandfather ever tell you about her?"  
  
"I… think so… But… why did he keep calling me Kikyou?"  
  
"You look very much like Sister did when she was your age." Aunt Kaede told her. She looked calm, but there was something in her manner – the soft steps of someone treading on thin ice.  
  
"He was asking me to give him the… shards? He was asking for the same thing those demons kept asking for, wasn't he? What is…"  
  
"The demons that attacked you asked for the shards?" Aunt Kaede interrupted, voice sharp and startled.  
  
Kagome blinked. "Yes... wait, no. The centipede monster…. It kept asking for the light… I don't even know what it wanted… And he kept asking me to give him the shards." She added, glaring at the boy. "I don't even know what those are! The shrine doesn't have any shards!"  
  
Her grandfather coughed. "We do now." He said. "I really should have strengthened the wards around the shrine when you told us you were coming back… I suppose I'd better see to it after dinner."  
  
Kagome and Sango stared.  
  
"These are the shards." Aunt Kaede said, gesturing to the table. "You can take a look at them."  
  
A small bag was on the table. Spread on the thick, indigo cloth – velvet, probably – was a handful of glittering crystal shards. Kneeling for a closer look, the two girls stared. Sango reached without thinking, to pick one up, then stopped and drew back, sheepish.  
  
"What are these?" She asked the old woman watching them.  
  
"They're… are they glowing? Even diamonds wouldn't be so bright…" Kagome said, turning to look at her great aunt.  
  
"You can see the light? … What colour is it?"  
  
"White." They said together.  
  
The old woman nodded. "These are the shards of the Shikon no Tama."  
  
"The… Shikon no Tama? Isn't that… the glass ball Grandfather sells on those key chains…?"  
  
"You don't know the story? The jewel was formed from the souls of a powerful warrior priestess and the demons she fought in her last battle. Their souls crystallised into a jewel of immense power, where their souls battled on. For centuries, demons everywhere warred with each other for control of the jewel, until a young priestess shattered it with an arrow, in an attempt to destroy it. The shards were scattered all over Japan and have been lost ever since, despite attempts to gather them and make the jewel whole again…"  
  
Silence. Kagome looked at the shards, carefully picking one up to hold it to the evening light. "These… are the shards? But… there're so many! Why do you have them? So these were what you were looking for?" She said to Inuyasha, blue eyes narrowing. He scowled in answer. "What do you want them for? And why were you sealed in the well?"  
  
"He was sealed because he tried to steal them from Kikyou. Even shattered, the shards can give demons, even people, a lot of power. That's always led to trouble – so the Council I… work for gathered the shards to study their powers and stop them from falling into the wrong hands. As Slayer, they were placed in Kikyou's protection to purify and gather what shards she could find, in hope of completing the jewel…"  
  
When Kagome still did not speak, she continued. "After she died, the Council took them back into its keeping. They attracted too much trouble, and we couldn't deal with it, not with Sister gone. When they asked me to come back to find and train the new Slayer, they gave them to me."  
  
Fifty years and the circle was turning again.  
  
The shard slipped from Kagome's fingers, fell back on the velvet. "What makes you so sure I'm… this Slayer you're looking for? I'm not some hero… I can't kill demons, I don't even know what _happened_ this afternoon…!"  
  
The look in Kaede's eyes was almost gentle. "Kagome, take off the bandage on your cheek and look again."  
  
The sound of tearing plaster was loud in the silence. Kagome's fingers brushed her cheek and drew no pain. Only a faint, red welt of newly healed skin remained where the demon's blood had marked her.  
  
"Healing ability has always been a mark of a Slayer's powers, together with strength, agility, spiritual power…"  
  
Through space and time. Blood to blood.  
  
Fate moved in the strangest ways. 

_end_


End file.
